According to RT, the increase in the number of dead and wounded is due to the fact that part of the units of the 103rd brigade of the Ukrainian territorial defense, the 27th infantry brigade, the 92nd mechanized brigade and the 40th artillery brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, along with equipment, were urgently transferred to the area of Soledar and Artyomovsk (Bakhmut) in the DPR.
Due to the shortage of heavy equipment and armored vehicles with mine protection, Ukrainian ground groups are forced to move around in pickup trucks and Sisu and M113 armored personnel carriers.
At the same time, Orlan-30 drones of the Russian Armed Forces detect these columns almost immediately after they begin to move, after which fire is opened on lightly armored vehicles from Hyacinth-B guns and 300-mm Smerch multiple launch rocket systems.
The highest increase in killed and wounded was recorded in the 14th and 67th mechanized brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as in the 25th air assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Only on January 10 and 12, in the battles between the settlements of Medvezhye and Ploschanka, two companies of this formation were killed - at least 200 people.
The transfer of artillery from the Svatovsky direction to the area of Soledar and Artemovsk led to the fact that high losses of Ukrainian troops began to be recorded also in the Chervonopopovka (Krasnopopovka) - Ploschanka sector, where the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces is developing.
In this direction, the positions of the Ukrainian military are being attacked by T-90M "Breakthrough" tanks.
At the end of December, an officer of the People's Militia of the Luhansk People's Republic, Andrei Marochko, said that due to heavy losses, Kyiv had deployed additional forces and means to the area of the city of Svatov.